Seven
by Evakoto
Summary: Uzumaki Naruto is seven years old, and he never wants to become a 'ninja'. AU


**Seven**

**Rating: **PG

**Summary: **Uzumaki Naruto is seven years old, and he's never going to become a 'ninja'. AU

**Warning:** Mentions of child abuse, teensy bit of icky language.

**Disclaimer:** Yea, right. Please note that I am posting this on a **fan **fiction site. That's because I don't own anything.

**Seven**

Uzumaki Naruto is seven years old. He is the dead-last in his class at the Academy, and though they'd started him early, he's already failed the genin exam once. He doesn't want to be there, not now, and not ever. He's going to fail every exam they make him take, because he _never_ wants to be like those stupid ninja who beat him up all the time.

Naruto is seven years old, and the only thing he's ever paid attention to in class is stealth and escape. He gets lots and lots of practice in it when he's trying to run away from either the villagers, or the nasty people with those stupid, _stupid_ headbands. Sometimes he's pulled a prank on them, and so it's okay for them to want to hit him for it. Most of the time though, he doesn't know why they suddenly start throwing things at him and trying to hit him. He hates it more when it's the ones that call themselves 'ninja' that go after him, because they're the ones who attack him in _groups_, and he's only seven years old so what can he _do_ when they circle him and start kicking and punching and making him bleed?

Naruto is seven years old, and he doesn't cry. Not when he's alone, and especially not when someone is hurting him, because that just makes them laugh even more, and kick all that much harder. Besides, it's not like anything they do to him will last more than one night anyway. He has the presence of mind to realize that they don't like that, either, because he's noticed enough to know that no one else seems to heal that fast. He thinks maybe they're all sick, and that's why they hate him, because he's not ill, and maybe that's why they piss on him sometimes, or rub his face in animal droppings, because didn't one of the sensei in class say that those things are dirty and can make an enemy sick, or something?

Naruto is seven years old and he doesn't know how to write. He can read well enough – a chuunin named Iruka taught him about katakana and hiragana and even a little about kanji and these funny 'romanji' things before he disappeared one day - but no one has ever taught him how to hold a pen, pencil or brush, and even though he knows what the characters are meant to look like, he just can't seem to replicate them. It's another reason why he'll never pass any exams, and another reason for people to make fun of him. They call him an animal, they call him a monster, and sometimes they call him demon. He doesn't know why, but thinks that it might have something to do with the scars on his face – they do look kind of like whiskers, but Naruto has always _liked_ them – and the fact that he lives on whatever he can scrounge from trash and that he feels more comfortable running on all fours. Naruto knows that animals do not run on two legs, and that demons do not write.

Naruto is seven years old, and the village he lives in wants him gone. He knows this, because he's heard people whispering about burning him at the stake. Naruto doesn't know what this means, but he's heard 'tied up' and 'burned to death' and has decided that he doesn't really want to know. He doesn't think that staying here is that much of a good idea, either. This is why he's sneaked out of the city walls, and why he's bounding through the canopy of the forest, hoping that he might find another village where he can stay for a little while before they hate him too.

Naruto is seven years old, and the only thing he ever paid attention to in class is stealth and escape. He got lots and lots of practice when he was trying to run away from the villagers and the ninja. He's found out that he can escape from the village, but he can't run away from himself.

Naruto thinks he might not be alone in his head anymore.

He thinks he might like it.

* * *

Author's Notes: 

Wow. How terribly hardcore and original of me.  
XD

Still, I was just playing with the common theme of an abused Naruto deciding to run away (and becoming more in touch with the yummy Kyuubi ).

The burning at the stake is probably a little far-fetched, but not everyone in the hidden village is a ninja.

Unbeta'd because someone offered, but I'm lazy.

Cheers.


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